Field Hockey misses out on playoffs

Last week when I wrote about E-town, the Bears still had an excellent shot at the league playoffs. Some things needed to go right for them to make it, but it was more than a possibility. Unfortunately, E-town closed out the year by losing three straight and five of their last seven games, and finished 7-10-1 overall and 5-6-1 in the section, seven points behind Manheim Central for third place.

But by no means should this be considered a disappointing season for E-town. They did return eight starters from last year, but are still a very young team and will be an absolute force to be reckoned with next year. Two years ago, graduation crippled the Bears and coach Andy Derr and company began rebuilding last year with a talented group of underclassmen. Next year, they will be seasoned veterans and will be right up there at the top of the section come next October.

The reason for E-town's poor record down the stretch is pretty easy to find – scoring. The Bears managed only 18 goals this year – five of those coming in a 5-0 thrashing of Lebanon in mid-September. E-town's 14 goals in section play were the second fewest in the section (Lebanon had 0), but the Bears allowed just 11 section goals, better than everyone except Ephrata and Central. E-town's defense is pretty good, but the Bears need to score more goals next year to be successful.